The present disclosure generally relates to vehicle seats and locking assemblies therefor. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a cam-slot recliner lever assembly for a vehicle seat.
Many vehicles include seats where a seat back folds toward a base of the seat. Such seats are movable between an upright position and a collapsed position. With the seat in an upright position, an operator typically pulls a recliner/fold-down lever connected with a latch which allows the seat back to pivot toward the base into the collapsed position. In addition, or in the alternative, these seats can be movable among a variety of reclining positions.
Current recline levers for vehicle seats often include cables or linkages that route from the lever to the recliner or latch mechanism to open it, thus allowing adjustment. Some seats have latches that latch to an adjacent vehicle wall (e.g., a latch in the seat attaches to a striker on the vehicle body). This presents a poor appearance and potential source of injury due to the protruding striker.
It is known to hide the striker, such as by providing a fold-down striker which allows the user to fold the striker down to the vehicle wall when not in use. However, a drawback of this arrangement is that it requires an extra step to the user when hiding the striker or deploying the striker. In another arrangement, the seat latch is provided on the vehicle wall with the striker mounted to the movable seat back. In one known arrangement of this type, the striker automatically folds down against the seat when the seat is folded through a cable system. This and other prior art recline latches are typically complex, costly and/or visually unappealing.